AUGUST 31, 2000

Jordan sceptical over FIA plans after team-bosses meeting

EDDIE JORDAN, the chairman and team owner of Jordan Grand Prix, has said that plans to alter the face of Formula One Grand Prix weekends would place increased restraints on teams and their staff.

The sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale l'Automobile (FIA), met with Jordan and other team chiefs at a London Heathrow airport hotel on Wednesday to discuss proposals to change race weekends to a two-day event and to ban testing at specified Grand Prix circuits.

Jordan, however, disagreed with the FIA's proposals to abandon the Friday of a Grand Prix weekend and claimed that any such changes will produce an enormous strain on staff.

"It's one thing to have elementary testing and practice sessions but we have to have good relations with our staff," Jordan said.

"All of our staff have families and we have a duty to give them time off to spend with them."

FIA president Max Mosley, who was campaigning for a two-day race weekend, suggested a Grand Prix could retain its current format if teams agree to limit the amount of testing they perform at Grand Prix circuits.

Mosley also promised the teams that a full examination will be held into the possible expansion of the use of electronic aids.

"The majority of the teams were very constructive throughout the meeting," Mosley said. "The general feeling is that we should have such meetings more frequently and I think that is what we will try to do."